Meet Jonathan Lewis of Asheville and Hendersonville

Hi Jonathan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I self-taught myself how to barbecue in Culpeper, Virginia. When I moved back to Asheville in 2016, I decided to sell BBQ out of my garage to reconnect with friends, teachers, and coaches. After I started selling out of the garage, it grew each time I did an event. When the company I work for decided in 2019 to go to Mexico and finally shut down the plant this past Nov 2022, I started saving up my money to build a food truck. This business is a labor of love. We built the food truck in my friend’s backyard and finally completed it in May 2022.

Let’s dig deeper into the story – has it been an easy path, and if not, what challenges have you overcome?
Fortunately, I’m in the food truck world here in Asheville, Hendersonville. They were all very helpful in guiding me on what to do. I didn’t feel like there was any unattainable hurdle for me and my situation. My biggest struggle was the—length of time it took to get the food truck completed. Since I had three years to plan for this, I could attack each step individually at my speed.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My food truck consists of pulled pork and pulled chicken sliders with homemade coleslaw BBQ sauce and chips. I also have 12 fun, flavored BBQ sauces to choose from inside the truck that you don’t even need because the meat speaks for itself. I feel like I have the trifecta in BBQ. I have the trifecta and BBQ with the pulled meat, slaw, and sauces.  I have 38 homemade fun, flavored sauces that set me apart from the rest of your barbecue joints. I have sauces on the truck, such as pickle, banana-pepper, mustard-Sriracha, blackberry, caramel, apple, butter, garlic, strawberry and so on.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like most about the Asheville Hendersonville area are the mountains and the delicious locally-owned restaurants. One of my dislikes this area is the constant construction and traffic on Interstate 26.

Pricing:

• $13 for a two-slider meal with chips, slaw, and 2 sauces
• $7 for a 1 slider with chips kid meal
• $23 for a bbq flight includes 4 sauces, 4 servings, chips, and slaw